Day 93 – Losing It – Short Story

“Calm, cool and you follow orders and we’ll get out of this in one piece,” he says as he waves to gun around at the six of them.

“Why keep us all? Why not let some of us go so they know you’re not some crazy who’s just going to kill every single one of us?” One of them says as he gets to his feet, holding his hands in the air, sweat runs down his brow and into his eyes, and he blinks them quickly as they sting.

“Because, Burnie, you all don’t just get to walk out of here without understanding the part you played, you don’t just get to watch from the sidelines, all of you are responsible for this happening, so you all stay until I’m done!” He says as he grabs Burnie by the collar of his shirt and shoves him back to the ground. “None of you are walking away like you always do and act like you did all you could when there is always more!”

“Jake, please, this has gone too far, there’s cops out there now, with guns, they’ve probably got snipers on the roof across the street, this is stupid, put the gun down son, this doesn’t have to be like this, we can talk like normal people, we’ll listen.”

“You had your chance to listen, you had months of me telling you this was a mistake, but you ignored me, you told me this is just how things work, it’s all in my head, I’ve been working too hard. But it ain’t Will, it’s not even close. So why don’t you just sit there and shut up, if I want input or questions I’ll ask!” He says as he turns to the woman tied to the chair, and smiles. “You’re not going to continue spreading your vile voodoo around here, you piece of shit!” He says as he reaches into the backpack on the floor in front of her and pulls out a large knife and places it on a table, she looks at the knife and then at Jake.

“Don’t do this, please Jake, whatever you think is happening, it’s all in your head, please, let me go, let us all go?”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Samantha, if that’s even your real name, which I’m pretty sure it’s not, well it’s not going to happen, ever since you started here there’s been something wrong, it took me a while to realise it was you, whatever you are, whoever you are, but I know you’re not right and I’m going to prove it,” he says as he pulls a jar of red liquid from the backpack and places it on the table and unscrews the lid, keeping a watch over the rest, waving the gun around with his free hand.

“What’s in the jar Jake?” She asks nervously.

“You already know, so why are you asking?”

“Jake, this is silly, don’t do this, please, you still have a chance to stop now, before you make a big mistake,” she says.

“The biggest mistake I ever made was trusting you,” he says as he grabs the knife and sticks it in the liquid in the jar. “But, I’m going to rectify that,” he says as he walks towards her and slashes the knife across her arm, Burnie and Will tackle him to the ground, the knife and the gun both tumble out of his hands and go skating across the floor, Debbie quickly grabs the gun and nervously hold it towards them, her hand shaking.

“This ends now!” She yells, Burnie pulls Jake to his feet and shoves him away.

“It’s over,” Burnie yells as Will grabs the knife and quickly cuts through the ropes tying Samantha down.

“Don’t, don’t let her out, you don’t know what you’re doing!” He yells as he charges at Will, and they all crash to the ground in a heap, Samantha rolls free and scrambles to her feet, cowering behind Debbie while Will holds Jake down and delivers two powerful punches to his face.

“What the fucks up with your arm?” Burnie asks as he nervously point towards Samantha’s green, blistered arm.

Samantha laughs, hysterically and they all look towards her in confusion, “I guess the charade is up,” she says as she slices the blade through Debbie’s throat, and tosses her body to the ground. “You should have listened to Jake, he knew what he was talking about!” She yells as she dives towards them.

To challenge oneself to 365 days of creation, giving myself one hour a day to write, thirty minutes to edit and then post the story and see where it leads. I'll also throw in excerpts of a novel I'm working or as well, which is how the short stories started in the first place, as a way to exorcise all the little, crazy stories that wouldn't fit anywhere out of my head, so, I hope you enjoy the trip. I should note, that all stories are created and owned by myself, if you like something and want to share it please do, share away, But if you want to feature it on your site or jumble something into an anthology please ensure you contact me first so we can discuss it like adults and not children who do not understand how the world works.

Welcome to the Rivers of Grue. I am the Keeper of the Crimson Quill and within these pages you will find a smorgasbord of different offerings ranging from fiction, introspective, and poetry, to film appraisals. There is absolutely no censorship and it is my aim to immerse the addressee through audio and visual stimulation, as well as my inimitable brand of prose. I trust you will enjoy your stay!